A California physician argues against the state's COVID-19 misinformation bill.
Our understanding of the above and many other topics has advanced because the consensus was challenged by doctors and other medical experts who dared to speak out. Silencing unconventional views would do more harm than good. In a free society, we do not allow the government to determine the “current scientific consensus,” let alone silence those who disagree.
Consider that the consensus still differs on masking young children, with the World Health Organization not recommending masking children under 6, while the CDC recommends masking children starting at age 2. Which one is “the current scientific consensus” and which one is “misinformation”? Indeed, it requires a lot of hubris to suggest a small group could ever be entrusted to be arbiters of truth. In this case, it would be the California Medical Board, composed of eight physicians and seven public members appointed by the government.
We were warned about a situation like this not only in George Orwell’s “1984” but also in our own recent history where,, “regulating the content of professionals’ speech ‘pose[s] the inherent risk that the Government seeks not to advance a legitimate regulatory goal, but to suppress unpopular ideas or information.’ ... Throughout history, governments have ‘manipulat[ed] the content of doctor-patient discourse’ to increase state power and suppress minorities.” As Stanford University’s Dr.
, AB 2098 could turn “doctors into agents of state public health rather than advocates for their patients.”
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